Mutare Nurla and his Furry Little Problem
by Thetimetel
Summary: After being bitten by a strange wolf Mutare finds his entire world turned upside down. Now introduced to the world of magic, Mutare finds himself accepted to Hogwarts. But danger lurks at every turn, whether it comes from the prisoner of Azkaban or even the other students. Perhaps most dangerous is the madness within Mutare that now emerges every full moon.
1. The Dark Night

Hiya!

I am proud to present the first chapter of a story I have been working on for . . . uh . . . *checks calendar* let's see . . . about three months and eighteen days. Wait, really? It sure felt like a lot longer . . .

Anyways, I've worked hard on this story, and I'm happy to finally be able to post the beginning.

Update 9/8/2013

Oh right! I totally forgot to say this! I know that many people will be disappointed that this story is centered around an OC, but in case I haven't made it clear enough in the summary, this is intended to be during Harry's third year at Hogwarts (meaning that it's 1993). This is one of very few chapters in which a character from the main story is not even _mentioned_, and I can assure you that there will be a direct interaction with one of my absolute most favorite characters in the next chapter :)

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It was a warm summer night, and a young girl was taking advantage of the phenomenal weather by sitting on a large hill and watching the stars above her. The particular hill that she was sitting on happened to be located in a large clearing, and that clearing happened to be located in the large forest that was behind her family's mansion. This had to be her favorite place to relax.

To her, this place was her connection between the wizarding world she grew up in and the muggle world she almost never got to see. Oh, she had heard her parent's views on muggles, how muggles were . . . well, the words they always chose to describe them were never positive. And she knew her parents hated her coming here. Well actually, what her parents really hated was what happened almost every time she came out here.

She pushed that thought out of her mind for now as she looked to her left. The full moon was beginning to rise. And as it did, the girl's blood ran cold when she heard something let out a howl. Her mind immediately screamed 'werewolf', but she quickly reassured herself that it couldn't be one. There were no werewolves around her family's mansion.

"Hi Iona!"

The girl named Iona immediately focused on the forest before her, and she felt a large smile spread across her face as she located the eleven-year-old boy she knew so well. "Hey Mutare!"

The white-haired muggle boy immediately dashed into the clearing, his big green eyes sparkling with glee as he made his way towards her. "I was starting to wonder if you'd _ever_ come back!"

Iona smiled as Mutare sat next to her. He always looked so excited to see her. She guessed that she couldn't blame him for that. After all Mutare didn't have any other friends. It wasn't that he was unlikable. In fact to Iona, Mutare was a very lovable boy. But he was so shy around other people that he never seemed to be able to make friends on his own.

The two of them made a little small talk, with Mutare asking how Iona was over the past year. While she wished she could say more, all she could tell Mutare was that she had had a truly 'magical' year. It was the same answer she had given him last year, as the year before this one she had started going to Hogwarts.

Of course Mutare couldn't understand the full implication of her answer, as he knew nothing about magic. In order to keep him from asking her to be more specific, as she sometimes had trouble remembering what was only known by wizards, Iona asked how Mutare's school year was. Mutare immediately blushed and looked away, and Iona felt her blood begin to boil when Mutare's instinctive response allowed her to see a nasty-looking bruise on the side of Mutare's head.

She forced herself to act coy, and gave an 'ouch' before asking Mutare how he got it. Iona knew the answer of course, but Mutare blushed before he lied. "I-we were playing baseball a-and the pitcher had a bad aim."

Just because Iona knew next to nothing about the muggle sport of baseball did _not _mean she was gullible enough to believe it was responsible for the injury. Mutare always had bruises whenever he got home from school. She used to believe his excuses, but not after she had met his supposed 'friends'. Iona could recognize bullies when she saw them.

"Anyways - uh, are your parents still mad at me?"

Iona was expecting the change in topic, but she did _not _expect what it had changed to. Mutare _knew _that her parents hated him!? Iona cocked her head, and was rather amused when Mutare let out a little bit of half-hearted laughter and blushed. "I-I wanted to know if you were back a month or two ago, so I walked up to your mansion and rang the doorbell. Your parents came out and . . . I-I'm not sure what I did, but it made them _mad_. They told me to stay away from you and to never come to the mansion again before slamming the door in my face."

Well, _that _was news to Iona. Her parents never told her that they had shouted at Mutare. The reason was obvious to her though. They hated muggles. They'd hate Mutare for their entire lives just because of the fact that Mutare was a muggle. So Iona had to say the odds that her parents were still mad at Mutare was somewhere between 100% and 'yes'. "Don't let them get to you Mutare. They're just stuck-up snobs. Besides, I enjoy your company."

To her relief Mutare accepted the change in topic. But in the back of her head, Iona found her thoughts stuck on the explanation Mutare had given. Something seemed off with it, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it was.

Her mind was taken off of it when she heard a wolf howl from somewhere a bit too close. She immediately thought 'werewolf', and she almost grabbed out her wand in order to defend them. But she was surprised when Mutare smiled at her, telling her that she shouldn't be so worried. "If anything wants to hurt you, it's got to get through _me _first."

The sad attempt at bravery - from _Mutare _of all people - almost got Iona to laugh. A more accurate depiction of what he would do was probably more along the lines of 'if anything runs at us, I'm going to faint.' But it was the thought that counted. She playfully rubbed Mutare's head, and he gave her a reassuring smile in return. For a little bit the two of them merely sat there, content to just watch the stars.

However, Iona immediately focused when she heard something traveling towards them. A quick glance at Mutare told Iona that he heard it to, as Mutare was fearfully scanning the trees. Iona couldn't blame him. Whatever it was, it was big and making an awful lot of noise as it navigated the forest. Iona's mind immediately turned back to the howl she had heard before. If this was the wolf she had heard before . . . werewolf or _not_, they could be in _big _trouble!

Maybe she shouldn't have been so startled when it turned out not to be a wolf at all, but she still was surprised at what it really was. Mutare and her both watched as a very muscular man with a gun walked into the clearing. While the man held a 'gun' - which Iona, being a wizard, knew little about besides for the fact that it was a weapon - he also had a large smile on his face. The man chuckled as he shook his head slowly, his green eyes appearing to sparkle with amusement. "I thought I'd find you two lovebirds here."

Iona couldn't help the smile that came to her face when Mutare meekly greeted his father. Mister Nurla was quick to assure the two of them that they were not in trouble as he walked up to the hill. "Apologies about interrupting your little chat, but I saw a weird wolf nearby and it got me concerned for your safety."

Both Mutare and Iona tensed up. Mutare asked what his father meant by 'weird', and the answer Mutare's father gave almost got Iona's heart to stop. He noted that it seemed 'rabid', although the wolf didn't appear to be foaming at the mouth. He also noted that the wolf just looked strange overall, with the first problem being that it had black fur. According to Mutare's father, something also seemed off about the wolf's snout, eyes, and tail.

Iona immediately thought back to her copy of _The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts _book, which she had already bought for this year_._ She had read a bit of it already, and she had found a section on werewolves. What were the signs of a werewolf again? She remembered that their snouts were slightly shorter than a regular wolf's, their eyes appeared more 'human' . . . and that there was something about their tails. Mr. Nurla had just listed off those three areas as being 'weird', did that mean . . . could it really be . . .

When Mr. Nurla offered to walk Iona home, she agreed instantly. Even if he was only muggle protection, it was better than the thought of being cornered by a werewolf while all alone. It sure wasn't long before Mr. Nurla was leading the two of them towards the Selwyn Mansion, which Iona called home.

During the entire walk home Iona kept waiting for the werewolf - or possibly just a black wolf, as she constantly kept telling herself - to appear, fangs bared in a menacing snarl as it attacked them, driven by an insatiable desire to spread its own infection. But it never showed up. In fact the next howl that Iona heard was quite some distance away from them. Had the werewolf gotten distracted by something else and left?

The other two weren't nearly as worried as Iona was. Mutare was currently apologizing for having slipped out of bed, to which his father kept laughing and noting that he knew Mutare was going to do it the instant they had heard Iona was back. He even noted that - were it not for the rabid wolf threat - he would have just let the two of them chat.

Iona sighed in relief when they reached the edge of the forest, and she saw her mansion in sight. As she and Mutare walked out of the forest, Iona suddenly noticed that Mutare's father had stopped at the edge of the forest, and was looking around like he was confused.

"Why am I here again?"

Iona knew almost the instant he asked what was going on. Her parents had put a Muggle Repelling Charm on their grounds, and it caused all muggles that attempted to step on their lands to forget what they were doing instantly. While she was going to tell Mutare and his father that they could go back home she got the shock of her life when Mutare - who was standing right next to her - reminded his father that they were escorting Iona home because he had seen a 'rabid' wolf.

As Mutare tried to get his confused father to come out and escort Iona to the door, Iona's mind was working overtime. What was going on? Mutare shouldn't be able to remember what they were doing. He had walked directly onto the land, and it looked like the Muggle Repelling Charm was having absolutely no effect on him. And now that Iona thought about it . . . hadn't Mutare said that he had stepped onto their lands before and come right to the door, and yet he never mentioned anything that would indicate he was stopped by the charm?

"Hey!"

Iona, Mutare, and the completely baffled Mr. Nurla all turned to face the speaker, and Iona rolled her eyes as her parents walked over, poorly concealing their wands behind their expensive muggle clothing. Her mother pulled an annoyed Iona aside while her father went to confront Mutare's clueless father.

"How many times do we have to tell you to stay away from that muggle boy?"

Iona rolled her eyes at her angry mother's words. However, most everyone immediately focused on Mutare when he explained the situation to Iona's father. Even Iona's father seemed startled at how accurately Mutare was able to say the information, and Iona's mother frowned as she whispered to Iona. "It's just like before. Neither the Muggle Detection Charm nor the Muggle Repelling Charm has any effect on him. We couldn't believe it when he showed up at our door with no warning at all. Is that because . . ."

Iona's mother soon flicked her wand, and from the way Mutare's father flinched and rubbed his head Iona supposed her mother had lifted the Muggle Repelling charm. Her mother then cleared her throat as she addressed Mutare's father. "I know this might seem random, but . . . have you had any 'odd' incidents that you can't explain while raising your son?"

While Iona rolled her eyes at the forwardness of the question, Mutare's father flinched before a teasing smile crossed his face. "What, Mutare never told you of our trip to the zoo?"

Iona knew something was up when Mutare blushed something awful. While Mutare hurriedly mentioned that they didn't need to know, his father laughed before shaking his head. "Well, from how many times you've met up with Iona now I have to say she should know, just in case you have another 'episode' like that at the wedding."

Iona and Mutare both blushed at the comment, although - to Iona's surprise - her parents seemed to find their reactions funny. While Mr. Nurla laughed as well, he soon addressed Iona and her parents again.

"It was the strangest thing. We went to the zoo on his seventh birthday as a birthday gift. I was showing him the boa constrictor and all the sudden he . . . I guessed the way to say it is that it looked like something had just hit him. He grabbed onto a nearby rail for support, his eyes opened wide, and he began speaking in this really odd voice. I only got the first few sentences, but he said something like . . . 'Seven objects are corrupted by the Dark Lord's Soul.' The odd thing is that when he stopped, he had absolutely no idea what he had said. In fact, he thought he had just fainted."

Iona frowned at that. Wasn't seven the age most children showed magical abilities? But . . . this sounded more like an episode to her. She asked if anything else happened, and to her surprise Mr. Nurla stated that it was the only odd thing that had happened that day.

What really surprised her was that her parents were now looking at Mutare like they had never seen him before. Mutare clearly noticed that from the way he was standing, blushing and looking away from everyone. However, she was surprised when her parents gave small grins at each other before clearing their throats. "Sorry about snapping at you . . . Mutare, was it?"

Mutare nodded at the question, looking considerably surprised at the apology. Mr. Nurla got their attention when he began speaking, but Iona would never know exactly what he had said. That was because she was more focused on the black blur in the forest headed directly for Mutare's father.

She opened her mouth to warn him, but was surprised when Mutare screamed 'wolf' before she could. Mr. Nurla immediately turned around as he lifted up his gun, but by the time he was able to the wolf was already pouncing at him. It crashed right into him, knocking him to the ground. Mr. Nurla only had time to shout 'bloody hell' before the wolf's teeth closed on his throat. Iona immediately averted her eyes as she heard flesh being torn away. There was no chance. It had gone directly for his throat. Mr. Nurla was already as good as dead.

The only reason she turned her head was because she heard footsteps headed her way, and she quickly identified that it was Mutare headed over to her. His face held a mixture of horror and pain, but to Iona's surprise Mutare put himself in-between the wolf and Iona.

There was no longer any doubt in Iona's mind when she looked at the wolf. The snout was short, the tail was bizarre, and the almost human eyes were full of an unnatural rage. It was a werewolf, and it wasn't going to let any of them get away. The werewolf charged at Iona, baring teeth now stained with Mr. Nurla's blood.

"I WON'T LET YOU HURT HER!"

Iona's mind disconnected as she watched Mutare charge at the wolf. She had never seen the look in Mutare's eyes. He was completely outraged. When the wolf let out a snarl, Mutare answered it with an animalistic snarl of his own.

"STUPEFY!"

Iona flinched when she saw two red lights fire from her parent's wands at the werewolf. The spells were aimed at the werewolf, but one of the spells passed right over the top of the werewolf and into the forest. The werewolf stumbled when it was hit with the other stupefy, and at the same time Iona saw Mutare look at where the one that had missed had entered the forest. "What in the world was _that_!?"

It cost him dearly. Iona paled as the werewolf shook off the effect of the spell like it was nothing and lunged at the now-distracted boy, aiming directly for his neck. While Mutare abruptly flinched and turned to face the werewolf again, Iona screamed Mutare's name as the werewolf slammed into him, knocking him off of his feet. At the same time the werewolf bit down hard, and Iona felt tears come to her eyes as the werewolf bit off a sizable chunk of Mutare's flesh. While Iona couldn't see well from her angle whether Mutare had somehow shielded himself, she doubted that Mutare could have lived through it.

She frantically got out her own wand as the werewolf let out a howl of rage, and as it bent its head down to bite Mutare again Iona screamed the first spell that came to her mind.

"Incendio!"

She realized her mistake the instant that it was too late to stop. A good patch of the werewolf's skin burst into flames, causing the startled werewolf to begin frantically thrashing around while standing over Mutare's body. If Mutare hadn't been dead before she did it, he probably died as the werewolf continued trampling him.

The werewolf soon got off of him in its wild dance, still attempting to put out the flames. It wasn't until Iona's parents hit the werewolf with a combined stunning spell that the werewolf stopped moving.

For a few minutes no one moved. Iona was too shocked. She couldn't accept what she had just seen. Mutare and his father . . . they couldn't just have died. I-it was just . . . it was too _fast!_ Iona was still trying to accept it when she heard a crack from somewhere behind her.

"Bloody _hell_, what just happened!?"

Iona and her parents immediately turned to find an older wizard standing there, a look of complete shock on his face as he looked at the burning werewolf and Mutare's father's corpse. Iona herself refused to look at Mutare's corpse, she just . . . she couldn't accept what she had just seen. Her parents gently led her over to the wizard. The man explained that the Ministry of Magic had noticed Iona using magic via the Trace, and that they sent him to give her a reminder not to do so unless the situation was dire.

"Of course" he noted while looking from Iona towards the burning werewolf "I-I guess this qualifies as a dire situation. But . . ."

"It attacked us."

Iona and the wizard turned to face Iona's father, who nodded back towards Mr. Nurla's corpse. "It killed a muggle man and his son before Iona was able to distract it with incendio. We hit it with a double stupefy, and-"

"Hold on. When you say it killed a muggle man and his son, are you talking about that kid kneeling next to the man?"

Iona immediately turned around, and she couldn't help the gasp she gave when she realized the man was right. Mutare was very much alive, and he had tears in his eyes as he looked at his father's corpse. His neck had no damage on it. Had the werewolf not managed to bite him? But if that was true then why was there a blood trail leading from where Mutare had been pushed to the ground over to his father? Why had Iona seen it ripping away a chunk of flesh?

As Iona watched Mutare abruptly froze in place. His ears twitched as his eyes opened wide and he turned to face the werewolf. "I don't believe it."

It was only when a huge fireball entered Iona's view that she realized what Mutare meant. The werewolf was back on its feet, and it was now completely ignoring the fact that it was on fire as it charged at Mutare. It let out a howl of pain and rage as it closed in on Mutare, and while all four of the wizards frantically reached for their wands Mutare suddenly reached for his father's waist, frantically reaching into his father's pocket as the werewolf got within pouncing distance.

Everything seemed to slow down for Iona. As the werewolf prepared to pounce at Mutare, Iona saw Mutare grab a large hunting knife from the corpse's pocket. He turned to face the werewolf as the werewolf pounced, and screamed as he swung the knife at the werewolf.

It looked like he was aiming for the werewolf's face, but that wasn't what he ended up hitting. Instead the knife slipped directly between the werewolf's ribs. Iona saw a momentary look of shock appear on the burning werewolf's face before it collided with Mutare's kneeling form. Instead of landing on top of him though the werewolf's momentum sent it over Mutare, where it tumbled to a stop. Iona immediately focused on Mutare, who scrambled to his feet as he stared at the wolf. His eyes suddenly bulged open as he began backing away from the burning creature, and he abruptly turned around to sprint for the forest.

Iona immediately raced after him, and when she glanced at the werewolf she immediately realized why Mutare had fled. The werewolf was transforming back into a human. She could see through the flames that Mutare had nailed the werewolf directly in the heart. It was obviously dead.

Once she was sure it wasn't a threat she bolted into the forest, screaming for Mutare to wait. To her surprise Mutare must have stopped, because she almost ran right into him seconds later. She was so relieved to see he was okay that the first thing she did was embrace him, smiling even as she felt tears coming to her eyes. "Thank _god _you're alright! I-I . . . I know you said you'd defend me from the wolf, b-but I didn't think you'd actually . . . th-thank you so much!"

She saw him give her a dumbstruck gaze, but he eventually gave a very meek smile in reply. "I just . . . I couldn't let it hurt you. I-I . . . you mean the world to me, I-I couldn't bear losing you, e-especially after . . . after . . ."

Iona knew what he was trying to say. He sounded like he was going to burst into tears at any moment, and she only hugged him tighter, afraid of what he might do if she let him go. In fact, it took hearing a constant 'splat' sound and looking down at Mutare's arm to make Iona let go. All of her relief turned to horror when she realized exactly what she was looking at.

There was a nasty bite wound on Mutare's right forearm, and it was bleeding heavily. The blood would exit the wound and slide down Mutare's limp arm, collecting on his fingers before it dripped down to the ground, creating the same 'splat' as before. Iona knew exactly where the wound came from, but . . . it couldn't be.

"I-it . . . _bit_ you?"

She froze as she saw Mutare's arm twitch. Oh god no, was he about to turn into a wolf!? Could it actually infect him that quickly!? She saw Mutare wince as he brought his other arm over, covering the wound with his hand. "Y-yeah, I-I barely got my arm up to stop it from hitting my throat. I-it itches like _crazy,_ and . . . and I feel kinda funny."

Iona didn't know what to do. He needed medical treatment, but if he was going to turn into a wolf at any second . . . wait, hadn't they gone over werewolf bites at their first year in Hogwarts? Yeah, and . . . okay, he wouldn't transform until the next full moon. How to treat a werewolf bite . . . she needed dittany and powdered silver! That would seal the wound, and from how fast Mutare was losing blood-

"They're over here!"

Iona immediately turned around, and she sighed in relief when her parents and the other wizard ran into view. The ministry official had a pestle and mortar in their hands, and it looked like the substance inside was exactly what they needed. As the man and Iona's mother went over to the startled Mutare, Iona's father pulled her aside.

While he clearly wanted to speak, to Iona's partial amusement it looked like her father didn't know what to say. After a few seconds of listening to her father fumble around with words Iona decided to start the conversation. "Will he be okay?"

"Should be. He got an awful bite on his arm and he's lost a lot of blood, but we'll be able to stop the bleeding."

"Is he . . . I mean, I know he got bit but . . . can muggles get infected with lycanthropy?"

". . . he was definitely infected. Look Iona, we . . . if I had hit with our first stupefy, then maybe . . . maybe he wouldn't have . . . I can't believe he actually charged a werewolf head-on, even if he thought it was just a rabid wolf."

Iona had to nod to that. She knew Mutare much better than both of her parents, and she still couldn't believe he had done something like that in order to defend her. She had no idea he could be so _brave_. Iona soon turned to face Mutare, who was meekly asking her mother and the other wizard questions.

"I . . . I could have sworn I saw it changing after I stabbed it. What . . ."

"Kid, you were hallucinating from loss of blood. I can assure you it was just a normal wolf. Okay?"

"Y-yeah. Uh, m-Miss Selwyn?"

"Yes, Mutare?"

"I . . . when the wolf was charging at me, there was some weird red light that went into the forest. A-and after it landed on me the wolf suddenly started on fire. What . . ."

Iona was surprised when her mother answered with absolutely no hesitation. "We bought some fireworks a year ago that ended up getting dumped in the backyard and never being used. When we saw the wolf headed your way we just grabbed the first thing we saw. The light was one of the fireworks, and we actually hit the wolf with the other one. That's why it caught fire. Maybe that wasn't the best idea, but we weren't sure what to do. Anyways"

At this her mother got down to eye level with Mutare. "Thank you for saving our daughter. Uhm . . . Iona's told us that your mother died a while back, and uh . . . you need a place to stay, right? If you want then you can stay at our mansion."

To Iona's relief and delight Mutare meekly nodded, although he noted that he would like it if they could get something from his house for him. Iona immediately nodded, and while she could guess what he wanted them to get, she still asked. "Sure, what do you want me to get?"

"My father's mop."

Iona couldn't help but giggle at the dumbstruck looks everyone else gave Mutare. They clearly hadn't expected the answer, but Iona knew enough about Mutare to know why he wanted it. "The one you made with your father after you broke the old one?"

Her mother and father immediately gave an 'ah' of understanding, although she was amused when the Ministry wizard still seemed confused. Mutare gave a 'yeah', and it broke Iona's heart to see Mutare give a very sad smile as his mind began to drift.

"I . . . it had been a really bad day at school, e-everything had been going bad . . . then when I got home, I-I accidentally stepped on our old mop a-and it had snapped. D-dad had gotten so angry that I got scared and ran away. Then . . . he walked into the forest, carrying the axe . . . I-I had thought he was after me, so I tried to get away but . . . but he told me it was okay, and that he had just had a bad day too and he hadn't meant to yell at me . . . and then he cut down a really big branch from a tree, and he-he told me that all that we had to do was make a new mop to replace the broken one."

Here Mutare took a shaky breath, and he hugged himself as he continued speaking. "H-he and I . . . we shaved the branch down to size using knives, and he-he kept telling me how I was doing such a good job, a-and how he was s-so proud I-I was h-helping him make a . . . make a new mop. Th-then we got some yarn, a-and we both cut the yarn to pieces t-to use w-with the mop . . . a-and then when w-we got d-done making it, h-he took the trophy f-fish that he had c-caught s-so m-many years ago that was h-hung o-over the fireplace a-and threw it o-out the window b-before putting the m-mop up in its p-place. He . . . he told me . . . told me that . . . he didn't care that . . . it was only a mop . . . the fact that . . . that we both had . . . that we b-both had . . . w-worked t-together to m-make it . . . m-made the m-mop more i-important t-to d-dad th-than a-any o-old . . . th-than any old . . ."

Iona smiled sadly as Mutare buried his head in his hands and began sobbing something awful. She wasn't surprised that Mutare wanted the object that had meant so much to his father, solely because both Mutare and his father had worked together to make it. Iona immediately took off for the cabin she knew Mutare used to live in with Mr. Nurla.

On the way, she was thinking about what had just happened. Mutare had just lost his father, and he just became a creature he probably didn't even believe in. How would they explain this to him? After all, he _was _still a muggle . . . though that didn't explain why he wasn't affected by the Muggle-Repelling Charm and the Muggle-Detecting Charm. But that fact itself was very confusing. Iona had never heard of a muggle capable of resisting a Muggle-Repelling charm, much less the spell _completely _ignoring them. What did it mean?

Eventually she reached the cabin. Mr. Nurla must have been really worried for them, since he had left the back door wide open. When Iona entered the cabin, she found it as neat as ever. No one would ever guess that something awful had just happened to its original inhabitants. Iona pushed that thought aside as she made her way to the living room.

The living room had a cozy appearance, with two large red armchairs: one for the father and one for the son. And there, above the still-lit fireplace, was the mop. Iona never failed to smile when she saw it. She remembered how she had asked Mr. Nurla about the mop, and how proud he had looked as he had patted his son on the back and declared it was a mop made by scratch by father and son.

Iona was looking directly at the mop when it happened. A loud _crack _resonated through the house as, for no reason and with no warning, a large crack appeared in the wooden handle of the mop. It was so unexpected that Iona actually let out a yelp and fell on her hindquarters. What had just happened?

She eventually wrote it off as some kind of coincidence, and soon moved a stool so she could reach the mop. When she went to set down the stool she was surprised to find a small puddle of water underneath the mop. And as she watched, a drop of water fell from the yarn of the mop and landed in the water. It almost looked like the mop itself was crying, mourning the loss of one of its creators. Eventually Iona shook her head. That was ridiculous. It was just a mop . . . right?

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I've never been good at beginning stories. I just find it hard to figure out where to start. However, I feel like I did a good job with this one.


	2. Feeling Wolfish

Before I get too far into the story, I want to note something. I have been looking at the lunar schedule, and I have noticed that J.K. Rowling didn't follow it for the third year. However, I intend to follow the lunar schedule it as closely as possible.

ANYWAYS, I said that I was going to have one of my absolute favorite characters in this chapter. Well, I lied. He's actually my FAVORITE character :)

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The boy named Mutare Nurla was lost within his own mind. The memory of the rabid wolf kept playing over and over in his head. He could still see it ripping his father's throat out. He could still remember how it got so close to doing the same thing to him. If Mutare hadn't desperately put up his right arm to defend himself, he had no doubt that he would be dead as well.

If the wolf hadn't caught fire from the fireworks the Selwyn family had shot at it, Mutare knew that the wolf would have killed him. He had no regret about the danger that he had put himself in though. He had done it to save Iona. But then . . . then there was the picture still branded in his mind. When he had so stupidly thought it had been over, that it was okay to sob his heart out over his father's corpse, he had turned to find the burning wolf was getting back to its feet.

He had never expected to see an enraged wolf that seemed to have come directly from hell itself charging at him, the fire in its eyes only matched by the fire that was slowly consuming its own body. Mutare had frantically searched his father's body for the hunting knife he had known his father always kept on him, and in a final, desperate attempt to keep himself alive he had frantically swung the knife at the wolf from hell.

By all rights, it shouldn't have worked like it did. Mutare was just as surprised as everyone else when he managed to kill the wolf. If he was honest with himself, he had thought that even if he had hit it the wolf simply wouldn't die. He had thought it was just immortal or something. And when it did die . . . Mutare could have sworn he saw it changing shape, as if it had been becoming more 'human'. Sure that one man had said Mutare had imagined it, but he still felt like it was real. Mutare let out a shudder as he hugged his mop closer to him, not even attempting to fight back the tears.

He was currently curled up on a fancy-looking bed, staying in one of the Selwyn mansion's guest rooms. This room by itself had become his new home. He only left it to go to the bathroom and to eat. How many days ago had the event happened now? He had lost count. Fighting back the urge to bury his face in his hands and cry Mutare grabbed a calendar off of the wall, and he focused on it.

Let's see . . . the incident itself happened the night of the 3rd of July. Mutare wiped away some tears as he counted the number of marks he had made on the calendar. It was . . . the second of August now. After he offhandedly noticed that it was a full moon tonight he put the calendar back on the wall, cringing when the movement of stretching to put the calendar back on the wall caused his right arm to let out a throbbing pain.

Mutare bit back a yelp as he focused on that arm. Thanks to the white t-shirt Mutare was wearing the bandage on his arm was very plainly visible. He clenched his teeth together when he felt the strange prickling sensation in his arm again. It had started last week, and it had gotten worse and worse as the week had gone on. It wasn't that painful, but his arm itched like something awful during that time.

Granted, he had been getting worried about himself over the past week. The itch was only one of quite a few new and unsettling things he had found happening to himself. He had found himself growling whenever something irritated him, which didn't take much at the moment. And last night he had to actually fight an urge to howl at the almost-full moon. While the Selwyn family - and the other guest they had been entertaining since last week - had assured Mutare that he had just caught some sort of cold and that he'd be okay, Mutare knew better. Colds couldn't make him howl at the moon.

He couldn't help the yelp that escaped his lips when he heard a tired yet kind voice from the doorway. "Scratching will only make it itch more."

Mutare immediately turned to look at the doorway, and he blushed when he saw the guest that the Selwyn family had been entertaining leaning against the doorway. The young-ish man looked about as rough as Mutare felt. Their untamed brown hair was speckled with gray, and as he straightened out his shabby clothes he smiled at Mutare. Just like always the man's eyes seemed to radiate kindness and safety.

Eventually Mutare looked down at his arms, and was surprised to find he was absentmindedly scratching the bandages. He blushed as he forced himself to stop, and the man laughed when Mutare apologized to him, calling him 'Mister'. "Please, call me Lupin."

Mutare again apologized, and Lupin gave him a sympathetic smile as he walked into the room. This was a new situation for Mutare. He had gotten used to daily visits from Lupin, but this was Lupin's second visit today. It wasn't that he didn't trust Lupin of course. Even Mutare knew that Lupin was someone you could trust. It was just . . . odd.

Lupin soon asked how Mutare was doing, and Mutare gave a sigh. He knew Lupin was really asking how Mutare was coping. "I . . . I don't really know. I-I want to say I'm doing okay, but sometimes I just get really . . . I just, I have times where it really unsettles me. Sometimes I just . . . I think I might be losing my mind."

He saw Lupin give him a very gentle smile before replying. "No, you're not losing your mind. You're just having difficulty coping. So uh . . . is the medicine helping with your cold?"

Mutare immediately nodded at that. Ever since Lupin had begun staying with the Selwyn family, he had been giving Mutare a strange drink. While the drink was odd itself - as Mutare had never seen anything like it before, and it seemed to release a weird blue smoke - it certainly was doing the trick. While normally Mutare would never have touched it . . . it wasn't like these were 'normal' times anyways.

It wasn't like he didn't believe it was medicine though. After all, it certainly helped. Besides for the itch in the arm and some odd traits - that being the growling when irritated and the attempt to howl at the moon - the medicine got rid of all the traces of his illness.

As he usually did, Mutare yet again thanked Lupin for the medicine. Lupin smiled as he stated that it was no trouble, but to Mutare's surprise Lupin then sighed, as if he had made a very difficult decision in his head.

"Anyways, I have something important I need to tell you."

Mutare immediately began listening, as he instinctively grabbed his mop to ensure it was nearby. Lupin gave a small smile at that, which got Mutare to blush. He couldn't help it. Ever since his father had been killed, Mutare brought his mop everywhere with him. He just wasn't himself if he didn't have his mop with him anymore.

"Did you notice anything . . . _bizarre_ about the black wolf?"

The question was completely unexpected, but after shaking off the shock Mutare gave a timid nod. "I . . . I think it was just too . . . too _aggressive_. I mean, it might have had rabies, but it . . . it wasn't foaming at the mouth or anything. I-isn't that a sign of rabies? I mean, there _must _have been something wrong with it since a lone wolf would never attack a group of five people. And . . ."

Here Mutare blushed as he shook his head, trying to end it with that. He didn't want to bring up the fact that still haunted him. To his surprise Lupin gave him a kind smile and waved him on. "'_And'?_"

". . . when I killed it, I . . . that one man said I had lost so much blood I had begun hallucinating, but . . . I could have _sworn_ the wolf was . . . changing. I-it almost looked like it was changing into a _human_. It was just so . . . so _weird_. B-but I . . . I guess I _must _be wrong. I mean, that sounds like a . . . a _werewolf _or something."

Mutare couldn't help but blush at that. He didn't want to believe that the wolf could have possibly been a werewolf, but . . . it _had _attacked them during a full moon. From the few things Mutare knew about the mythological creature, a werewolf would transform into a wolf during the full moon. He didn't hear anything about them turning back into a human if they are killed, but . . . it wasn't like a normal wolf would do that.

"I agree."

Huh? Mutare looked at Lupin in shock, but Lupin had his eyes closed in thought. Eventually he opened his eyes and looked at Mutare. "From what you're saying, I agree that it sounds an awful lot like a werewolf. It mindlessly charged at a large group of people, and when it died you feel like it was changing into a human. A single wolf - even one with rabies - would have given a warning growl at the very least before attacking. And of course, after death transformations tend to be beyond the capacity of regular wolves."

"Are you . . . are you actually saying . . . it _might _have been . . . b-but I was always told that . . ."

As Mutare fumbled with words Lupin gave a sigh and clasped his hands together. "We have both come to the agreement that it was not a normal wolf, and that the chances of it having been a rabid wolf is very slim. Now, what do you know about werewolves?"

Mutare cocked his head in confusion, but nonetheless answered. "Uh . . . they are human until the full moon, when they become wolves. And uh . . . I'm not sure what else is different about them."

He couldn't believe it when Lupin nodded. Was Lupin really taking this seriously? But . . . but werewolves didn't really exist, right? Yet even as Mutare told himself that, Lupin continued speaking to him in a very serious voice. "And when did the attack happen?"

"On the day of the full moon?"

"Not just that, though. It specifically happened when the full moon was out, right?"

Mutare nodded, still too startled and confused to do otherwise. He soon saw Lupin sigh before he shook his head. "Why is it so hard to believe? You are the one that brought up that it almost seemed like it was a werewolf. Do you think it could really, truly could have been a werewolf?"

Mutare almost said 'of course not', but managed to stop. If he was honest with himself . . .

"I . . . I really think I could. But . . . but why . . . why are . . ."

That was the moment that he understood what was going on. The fact that Lupin had so conveniently appeared right when Mutare had gotten the illness with medicine to help him . . . how had he not noticed how coincidental that was? And of course, there were Mutare's strange new habits, such as growling when irritated and that urge to howl at the moon. Now he knew what to call it. He had become 'wolfish'. But . . . it couldn't be.

"Can a werewolf . . . are they born like that, or-or . . . or is it something a human becomes?"

Lupin clearly knew that Mutare had caught on, and he let out a sigh. "It's a sort of disease. The only way for lycanthropy to be transmitted - and this is a _guarantee - _is for a werewolf to bite someone during the full moon."

The news hit Mutare hard. He looked at his bandaged arm, and he shuddered as he felt the prickling sensation in his arm again. So he was now a werewolf. This . . . this was crazy. He gulped, trying to imagine what was going to happen tonight.

"Look, Mutare."

Mutare immediately turned to look at Lupin, and his eyes opened wide when he saw Lupin had rolled up his sleeve. He didn't need to ask. Lupin's entire arm was riddled with scars, some of them being bite marks and some of them being scratches. "You mean . . . you're a werewolf too? B-but . . . how many werewolves _bit _you?"

Lupin let out a light hearted chuckle before he rolled up his sleeve. "Well, most of these are actually self-inflicted."

Mutare immediately looked at Lupin in shock, which caused Lupin to quickly explain - to Mutare's horror - that werewolves usually went into a rage-driven frenzy when they transform. Lupin was going to say something more, but Mutare didn't wait for him to do so.

With a savage growl Mutare punched Lupin in the face as hard as he could. He felt his hand throb as the startled Lupin hit the floor, but Mutare immediately pounced on top of him and pinned his arms in place. With another savage growl Mutare grabbed the bewildered Lupin's shoulders and forced him to hold his face right in front of Mutare's. "_You mean to tell me we are going to go __**berserk **__in a few hours!? WHY ARE WE IN THE SELWYN MANSION!? DO YOU REALIZE THAT IONA AND HER PARENTS ARE IN __**DANGER!? **__We have to get out of here __**as fast as we can!**__ How could you -_"

He was startled into silence when Lupin let out a snarl of his own. "Of course I know that! Do you really think I'm the type of person to just let something like that happen!?"

"THEN HOW ARE WE GOING TO KEEP FROM HURTING THEM!? Do you _want_ us to bite them, is _**that**_ your plan!?"

Mutare didn't expect the rage that crossed Lupin's face. There was a loud bang, and Mutare found himself flying through the air and into the other wall. He barely had time to recuperate before he found Lupin standing in front of him, the shadow of a wolf upon his face. Lupin opened his mouth to speak, but to Mutare's surprise Lupin froze and shook his head. When Lupin looked at Mutare again Mutare was surprised to find Lupin was calm. "Do you remember how I said lycanthropy is a disease? How do you ease the effects of a disease, Mutare?"

"Medicine of course, but what good"

Mutare almost heard a _ding_ as he realized what Lupin was saying. _The medicine! _Lupin had been giving him the medicine all along! As he felt his face turn a vibrant shade of red Lupin nodded and got down to eye level with him. "Yes. I've been here supplying you that medicine the entire time. I've been drinking it as well. Thanks to its effects, we won't lose our minds when we transform. We will be staying outside after supper, and will stay there until tomorrow morning. I would _never _put the Selwyn family in that kind of danger. Okay?"

"I . . . I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't realize . . . I-I was just . . ."

Mutare couldn't figure out how to say it. Here Lupin was doing so much for him, and he had just attacked and accused him of doing something so terrible. To his surprise Lupin laughed before he helped Mutare to his feet. "I apologize for snapping back. You just caught me by surprise. I should have realized right away that you were only worried for Iona and her parents. To be honest"

At this Lupin beamed at Mutare with a sparkle in his eyes. "I was told how you attacked the werewolf head on. When I met you, my first thought was 'how the bloody hell could you attack _anything_?' But now, well . . . now I know."

While Mutare wasn't sure that made what he himself did any more acceptable, Lupin smiled and nodded to the window, where the sun was slowly making its descent. "Thanks to our condition, we tend to get more aggressive around the full moon. I should have taken that into account when I so foolishly chose to wait until the day before the full moon to explain this all to you."

Both Mutare and Lupin turned when the door creaked open. Mutare sighing as he saw that there was no one there. While Lupin loudly stated that it was alright, and that there had just been a little misunderstanding, Mutare quickly told him that there was just something wrong with the door. "It keeps opening like that every now and then. I think it must be the wind or something. Anyways - uh, I'm really sorry about that, but . . . how did you toss me halfway across the room?"

To his surprise Lupin immediately brightened up as he reached into his clothing. "That is the other reason I am here. Mutare . . . there's an entire world being hidden from you at this very moment."

Huh? Mutare cocked his head, but his eyes bulged open as he saw Lupin grab out a wooden stick and point it at Mutare's mop. "_Wingardium Leviosa_"

Mutare could only stare open mouthed as his mop rose from his bed. As Lupin moved what Mutare now realized was some sort of wand, Mutare watched with amazement as his mop slowly flew over to Mutare's position, floating directly up to the point that Mutare tentatively grabbed it.

"I . . . I don't believe it. Was that . . . was that _magic?_"

The very amused looking Lupin nodded with a smile on his face, and Mutare could only let out a 'wow' in amazement. As he tried to come to terms with this new find Lupin spoke again. "Indeed. Now Mutare, I want to explain this to you. The Selwyn family didn't want to overwhelm you, so they put a spell on you. This particular spell makes it so that if you see or hear magic, you instead see or hear it as a 'normal' event, or you just don't see or hear it at all. There is magic used all around this mansion, and yet thanks to this spell you have more or less seen this as a normal mansion. I can lift the spell, though. Do you want to see that magic?"

Mutare couldn't help the excited smile he gave Lupin. After taking a deep breath and ensuring that his mop was nearby, Mutare nodded. "Show me."

* * *

I am currently looking for a new job. The job I currently have is okay, but not what I want. In between working my current job and looking for a new job, I don't have much time to work on writing. But I still DO work on writing, even when I have little to show for it.


End file.
